Straddling burnout and resilience: a Q methodology study among high school EFL teachers

Abstract

ABSTRACT Amidst the recent positive psychology trend, teacher resilience has captured increasing scholarly attention, while burnout remains a significant, negative construct in teachers’ emotional spectrum. Research on burnout and resilience among teachers teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) is especially scant. In this study, we explored the psychological profiles of 40 EFL teachers in terms of their experience of burnout and resilience. Q methodology was first employed to collect data from 40 high school EFL teachers, the findings of which were complemented by interviews with nine of the participants. The findings showed three main profiles of the teachers: resilient with person-environment equilibrium and a sense of accomplishment, goal-oriented with tenacity and signs of burnout, and emotionally sensitive and burned out with small likelihood to bounce back. Based on this novel attempt to delve into the co-presence of various degrees of burnout and resilience among teachers, implications for teachers and school administrators are finally discussed.